How to travel in Seattle
Traveling by Train, Rail or Bus. Amtrak provides train service along the west coast. The Amtrak Cascades runs three trains a day between Seattle and Portland (two run between Seattle and Eugene, Oregon, via Portland). The trains stop at King Street Station, which is located just south of downtown, near Safeco Field, one of the two major stadiums in Seattle. From King Street Station, take the overpass over the train tracks, and a few blocks to the east is the International District Chinatown Stration, where Light Rail and local/regional buses run, connecting to downtown, the airport, and all around Seattle. Sound Transit operates a rail/bus system around the region, including a commuter train between Seattle and Tacoma, and the Link Light Rail (Central Link) between downtown Seattle and SeaTac airport. Metro Transit is the major local bus line in the Seattle area. Their buses and bus stops can be found all around downtown Seattle. Seattle Center Monorail provides fast, fun, direct transportation between downtown Seattle's Westlake Center (5th Ave. & Pine Street) and Seattle Center/Lower Queen Anne. Open daily - train departs approximately every 10 minutes. The Monorail is a great way to connect from Sound Transit's Link Light Rail to the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project Museum, and more. Cross-country buses are mainly provided by Greyhound Bus Line, which has a bus terminal at the northeast edge of the downtown Seattle core. Gray Line Tours is a major regional bus line that provides many leisure bus tours. Traveling by Car and Taxi. If you are arriving in Seattle by car, there are several ways you may be driving in. The largest freeway is Interstate 5 (I-5), which runs up the middle of Seattle, north-south. If you are coming from the east, you may be headed in via Interstate-90 or Freeway 520. All routes from the west are going to be by ferry. Seattle is a fairly large city, with a number of commuters driving in and out of the downtown core at the usual commute times, Monday through Friday. There are also two large sports stadiums just south of downtown Seattle, and if there is a game or event at one of these, traffic can clog in the surrounding streets and freeways just before and after game times. There are only two roads that run all the way through Seattle from north to south -- Interstate 5 and State Route 99 (which is also known as Aurora Avenue within the city limits, and which becomes the Alaska Way Viaduct while running through downtown Seattle). Thus they are natural traffic magnets. The only east-west street to run directly from the waterfront area of downtown Seattle to the shore of Lake Washington to the east is Madison Street. Foreign driver's licenses are recognized in the United States, but if your home driver's license is not in English, you should consider getting an international driver's permit (IDP). Contact your own government to obtain one. If you are an American traveling abroad and need to get an IDP. If you want to rent a car when you arrive, there are many rental car locations all around Seattle, and generally you should be able to rent a car for about $20 a day. The City of Seattle regulates taxis and sets rates within the city limits. Seattle's Street System The overall shape of the City of Seattle is like an hourglass, stretching from north to south. The city is flanked by the water bodies of Lake Washington to the east and Puget Sound to the west, and divided more or less at its center by the Lake Washington Ship Canal (which runs east-west). The topography is very hilly; the city is built on seven adjacent hills. As a result, while the city street system is generally laid out in a grid pattern, it is full of streets that wind and curve and run at arbitrary angles to one another. Seattle streets that run north-south are labeled "Avenues", and east-west running streets are labeled "Streets". Most of the streets that tend to wind and curve, or run diagonally to the gridded streets, are labeled "Boulevard", "Road", "Place" and so on. The city also has a number of bridges, many of which cross the Lake Washington Ship Canal, joining the north and south sections of the city together. The founders and early leaders of Seattle, the Misters Denny, Maynard and Boren, didn't see eye to eye on how to lay out the street plats in the downtown area, and as a result, the streets along the edges of the central business district sometimes join up at odd angles as you head in or out of the downtown core. These discrepancies can be fun to discover when you are walking, but confusing when you are driving.